Security experts hack Tesla car
Tesla has issued a software update for its model S car after two researchers found a way to take control of the vehicle via its onboard systems.
This follows on from the news last week, when Fiat Chrysler issued a recall for more than 1.4 million vehicles after hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek showed how to use the on-board software of the Jeep Cherokee to shut it down remotely.
In the latest instance involving Tesla, the researchers were able to shut off the car and force it to stop. Tesla responded by stating that it had addressed all six vulnerabilities.
Marc Rogers, of security firm Cloudflare, and Kevin Mahaffey, from Lookout, have released information about problems they found in Tesla’s Model S vehicle.
Details of their work will be disclosed at the Def Con hacker conference currently under way in Las Vegas.
The researchers praised Tesla for the way the vehicle handled the bogus commands and how the car maker responded to their findings.
By exploiting a connection between the car’s entertainment system and its on-board controllers, the two researchers were able to issue commands and take over the car.
Mr Rogers said car makers faced difficulties because they had little control over what was done to vehicles once they were in customers’ hands.
‘With embedded systems like you find in cars, you cannot control who has access to it,’ he said. ‘Someone can take it home and apply any tool they want to it.
